Starship Troopers: Marauder
by Demo ODST
Summary: Surviving twelve hours, alone, on a planet filled with denizens with only one thought, killing you, is not something just anyone can do. nor is it something that ever goes unnoticed. (Not sure how long this story will end up being, but it's a fun time past time story and no more, based off the 1997 movie as well as the 2017 animated movies)
1. Prologue

**it took me a while to write one of these scenes. i think imma just have fun writing this story and not sweat the details as much as i normally try to. and yes, i know, yet _another_ new story. get over it friends.**

* * *

_K-Hour +11_

Cameron Hendricks shuddered as another shrill shriek assaulted his ears, deadened only slightly by the damp rock surrounding him. There wasn't much space in the crevasse he had squeezed into, not enough room to even sit down properly. He had been sitting for at least five hours now in the same position, knees jammed into the rock in front of him, all of his weight dispersed between them, his feet, and his rear end. It had been a rough five hours, the Arachnid that had chased him into the crevasse spending almost an hour trying to claw it's way to him, but the rock had proven too strong for the creature, it eventually wandering off. Ever since, Cameron had been in the same general position, nervously tapping the small sidearm in his right hand.

The weapon was nearly out of ammo, just three rounds left in it. Every pouch in his kit was empty, his helmet was gone, and he had cuts and gashes in more places than he could count. But he was alive, and he had every intention to make it back that way.

_It's been nearly twelve hours, the sun came up hours ago… if they were going to try the invasion again, they would have by now… maybe I should just…_ he let out a small sigh, thumbing the safety off on the handgun, about to point it into the roof of his mouth.

_ No! you are not going out like that! What about Mom, Dad, Mary, Rhodie, if he's even alive still, my squad's families!? If I don't survive this, how will they ever know what happened to them!? And I can't just give up on getting back, not even if there is even a sliver of a chance!_ He shuddered once more, flicking the safety on the weapon back on.

Several more screeches rang out, Cameron stiffening upon hearing them. Moments later though, a different sound echoed into the cave. A series of rapid cracks and bangs, marking gunfire audibly close by. With that sound in his ears, he forced his sore and aching body from it's position, slowly working his way from the rocks as carefully and quietly as he could. Even though he knew it meant facing the Arachnids once more, the gunfire told him humanity was still here, in the fight. And that meant he had a chance to go home. One he was certainly not going to waste.

* * *

_K-Hour -36_

Cameron settled into the seat of the telecom booth, letting out a small nervous sigh. He was scared his family wasn't going to answer, the thought that the next twenty minutes could be the last time he ever spoke to them rattling him to the core. He quickly punched in his family's number, waiting patiently for the call to be answered. Suddenly, an image popped to life before him, a middle aged, greying man appearing. The image was grainy and filled with static, but stable enough for Cameron to recognize his father, and the worried look his green eyes were giving the camera.

"Cameron? What's wrong with your signal, it shouldn't be this bad…" he visibly banged on the side of the family's device, Cameron wincing.

"The fleet's on the move. This is the best signal we're getting. Listen, is mom and Katy around, I only have twenty minutes."

"No. They just left to go grocery shopping." Cameron's father fell silent after he spoke, letting out a small pained sigh after several moments. "This is it then, isn't it? We're striking back for Buenos Aires."

"Yeah. This is it." Cameron let out his own sigh, knowing from the moment he joined the mobile infantry, this day might come.

"Stay safe out there, ya hear me? I wanna see you back on earth again someday." his father's tone was deathly serious, the pair's eye's locked through the screen.

"I will dad. Tell everyone I love them for me, okay? I… I'm going to go make sure my gear is prepped and ready to go."

"I will. We love you too Cameron. See you on the flip side."

With that, Cameron begrudgingly clicked the call off, letting out a sigh as he stared at the dark screen. Now that the screen was off, he found his tanned face staring back at him, almost a spitting image of his father at the same age. Both of them had the same stern facial structure, though, Cameron looked more like a gaunt ghost at the moment. His dark brown eyes, the only feature he received from his mother, glanced between their mirrored replicas, a small shudder racking his body.

He was not at all too proud to admit that the battle before him terrified him. The lazy and carefree attitude even his commanders were using when briefing them on the attack and the roles each company would have was unsettling. Not a single soldier on the ship seemed to think the bugs were even going to be a threat. The commanders had straight up said the bugs would be asleep and dormant while they were landing. Not one seemed to be taking the war seriously.

If that wasn't reason enough, he had been digging through the military side of Fed Net, studying what information was available on the Arachnids. Though each creature was not particularly bright, they were the size of small cars on legs, and could tear a car apart with their massive jaws, if they so chose to. They usually used the huge jaw to chop food up into more palatable sizes. The strength to cut through steel like butter meant the body armor they were going to be wearing would only really protect them from friendly fire incidents.

They were also extremely tough creatures, their exoskeletons acting like armor in and of itself. Even with the specialized rounds each soldier was being outfitted with, a sort of miniaturized armor piercing explosive round, it could take dozens just to kill one. And maiming one barely slows it. Even a crippled creature would do anything in it's power to kill and eat more prey, having seen a clip were they had blown the legs and smaller mandibles off one of the creatures, and it still managed to kill a cow released in it's pin.

He finally managed to force himself out of his seat, trying to shove his fears and thoughts from his mind as he slipped from the booth, glancing around the empty area outside the telecom station. He had intentionally picked a time when no one was there to make his call. Not that most of his fellow MI's seemed to care. The grand majority had been partying since yesterday, when they were informed that they would be a part of a strike on the Arachnid home world of Klendathu. It was utterly disgusting to Cameron, watching his fellow soldiers treat a large scale invasion like it was an upcoming football game.

"H-hey Hendricks." A female voice startled Cameron a little, drawing his mind out of his disgruntled thoughts as a slim woman stepped through the entrance door.

She was clad in the grey formal uniform the fleet officers wore, hiding her frame from view. That said, she was several inches below average, likely the smallest person Cameron had seen in the military. Her dark, red tinted brown hair was up in a bun at the moment, though it had obviously fallen looser than when she had started today. There was a smile on her soft features, her bright blue eyes fixed to Cameron's own brown eyes.

"Ma-am." Hendricks fought back a smirk of his own, saluting the Ensign.

She immediately turned a faint shade of red, her smile broadening as she returned the salute. "You don't have to salute me anymore if it's just the two of us Cameron!"

"It's habit, okay, shesh." He stepped forward and hugged the smaller woman, feeling her shudder slightly in his arms.

She, like him, was one of the only other people on the ship who seemed to be worried about the coming battle, though she really shouldn't have any worry at all. All of the intel packets Cameron had seen showed that the arachnids wouldn't be able to hurt them until they had boots on the ground. The ships in low orbit were supposed to be perfectly safe. Given that Ensign Margaret Lindstrom, or Mary, as she preferred to be called, was nothing more than a flight controller for the ship's bomber compliment, she was going to be on the ship the whole campaign.

"Still shaky I see." He released her as he spoke, giving her the warmest smile he could.

"Yeah…" she spoke very softly, her voice almost dropping out as her eyes fell to the metal plating beneath us.

"You've got nothing to be afraid of Mary. The Bugs can't fly you know."

"We don't know what they can do."

He had to concede her that point, even though it meant his attempt at comforting her a little had just backfired in his face. "Yeah, we certainly don't"

"Are you going to be free tonight?" her voice remained quiet as she shuffled her feet, finally looking at him again.

"No. I need to make sure my gear is good to go. Can't take any chances out there."

"I know but… there's only so many times you can wipe down and oil a Morita… and… well… I'm-" she let out a shuddering sigh before she continued. "I'm scared I won't see you again."

He let out a sigh and hugged her once more, gently brushing his lips on her forehead for a moment. "Me too Mary. That's why I want to be as prepared as I can be."

"Just… Meet me in my cabin in an hour. Okay?"

"Okay." He nodded before kissing her on the lips this time, the short and gentle touch as short as it was sweet. "One hour. Bye." He gave her a smile before letting go of her, stepping by her and out the door.

It didn't take him long to navigate his way through the ship to his barracks bay, slipping through the doors into a sea of noise. Troops all around him were hollering and screaming, music was blasting, and one whiff of the room said that most there had a considerable amount of booze in their system.

"Hey Hendricks! Finally joining us scaredy cat!?" he rolled his eyes at the call from his bunk mate, who had a bottle of amber liquid sloshing in his uncoordinated hand. The near black skinned man was lounging on Cameron's bunk, the lower one to be precise, smirking at Cameron. He had his hair totally buzzed off, as many of the soldiers did.

"I'm not a scaredy cat Rhodie. I just payed attention to the reports we got. The bugs are lethal as all hell. We shouldn't underestimate them." Cameron grumbled that out as he pulled his Morita from his locker, giving it a visible once over before jamming the buttstock into Rhodes' gut. "And get off my bunk Rhodie!"

Rhodes groaned as he rolled off the bunk, somehow managing to not spill his liquor. "Aw, come on dick, join the party, put that thing away!" he snapped that out as he staggered a step or two away.

"No, Rhodie. I'm good." He plopped onto the bed, quickly stripping his rifle down as much as he could without special tools, inspecting each piece and applying a light coat of lubrication grease to the internals. After he reassembled the rifle, he flicked through the fire settings, making sure each worked, as well as the safety.

His rifle wasn't the standard infantry Morita Mark Two rifle issued to the mobile infantry. The standard issue weapon had an eight round twelve gauge shotgun built into the polymer frame under the main barrel. Being assigned as his squad's grenadier, his had a much bulkier forty millimeter grenade launcher, complete with a two round in-line magazine tube and pump for rapid firing of at least three grenades without having to reload it.

As soon as he finished his checks, he slipped the weapon back in his locker and gave his kit one more check, making sure he had his analogue survival kit, including an analogue map, compass and tools and a small Identify-friend or foe beacon that could remain active for up to two weeks. Of course, so long as his unit's main communication pack remained connected to the fleet, and the computers in his helmet remained wirelessly connected to that pack, he should never need the analogue tools. It was all securely packed in his kit, his kit fully loaded and ready to go, as they all had already been issued ammo for the invasion already. He even had his assault pack prepared as a 'speedball' bag to resupply himself with once the foot hold was established.

All in all, it hadn't taken long to look over his kit, letting out a sigh before sealing his locker. He then moved to leave the barracks, several of the soldiers making cat calls at him, calling out various forms of scaredy cat or coward at him.

"Oiy! Where do you think you're going Hendricks!?" Rhodes was calling out to him again, Cameron stopping for a moment.

"I'll be back Rhodes. Just don't get yourself killed before the bugs get at ya, will ya?" he tossed that annoyed statement over his shoulder before slipping out of the barracks, making his way back through the rabbit warren that was the living quarters aboard the TFT Valley Forge.

* * *

Ensign Margaret Lindstrom sighed as she slipped into her quarters, trying to calm her mind as she slowly stripped down into her sports bra and underwear. No matter how hard she tried, she had a terrible feeling about the invasion before them. Her room mates bed was empty, the female bomber pilot no where to be seen. She was likely spending time with her fellow pilots tonight, or helping prepare her bomber for tomorrow. Either way, Lindstrom didn't much care where she was, just happy that she wouldn't be back tonight.

She dug through her wardrobe until she found some of her civilian clothes, quickly locating a low cut set of black leggings, slipping them on and not bothering with a shirt, even though she knew Cameron was going to be here shortly.

Although the pair only met a couple of months before, she already very much so trusted him, nor did she much care how little clothes she saw him in. The only reason she had bothered with throwing the leggings on in the first place was the fact that spaceships where always chilly at best.

The pair had pair had met by literally bumping into each other in the mess hall. Mary had been on her way out of the room, Cameron, moving to sit down with his food and neither were paying attention to where they had been going. It had caused his tray to spill his food all over the two of them. The ensuing panic each had, both feeling at fault for coating the other's uniform in the mess halls 'spaghetti and meatballs' had caused the pair to start talking. With in a week, they had been in an 'unspoken' relationship, spending all of their free time together.

An electronic bell suddenly rang out, announcing that someone was at the door. She nearly sprang to the door, opening it without even checking who it could be. Cameron was on the other side, as she had been expecting, a small smile on his face.

"Hey Mary!" he spoke as soon as the door had opened, his eyes locked to her own.

"Hey." She kept her greeting short as she stepped out of the door, locking it as soon as he was inside. "So what do you want to do?" she nervously tapped her fingertips together near her waistline as she watched him move into the room.

"Honestly? Sleep. Don't think I can though." He pulled his fatigues top off as he spoke, draping it over her chair before flopping on her bed.

"I feel you. I haven't been able to sleep all week." She immediately flopped beside him on the bed, the twin mattress forcing them together.

"Me either."

"Sleep does sound amazing right now." She snuggled closer to him, letting her eyes close as she rested her head on chest.

"We're pathetic, aren't we?" he chuckled, causing her to bounce slightly with him.

"Yeah, very. But I'm okay with that."

"Me too."

"Cameron?"

"Yeah?"

"I know I've asked this a million times, but…. Promise me you'll come back, okay?" her voice shook slightly as she looked up at his eyes, seeing that he was staring up at the ceiling.

He let out a small sigh before he responded. "I promise, I'll come back alive." He leaned down as soon as he finished planting a small kiss on her forehead before letting his head drop back onto the mattress.

"Good." She snuggled in to him with her one word response, closing her eyes. Within moments, the soft rise and fall of his chest and the gentle vibrations produced by his heart lulled her off to sleep.


	2. K-Hour

_K-Hour -15 minutes_

_Crap, Crap, Crap, Crap! How the hell did I let myself sleep in this morning of all mornings!_ Cameron rushed toward his designated dropship, his helmet and rifle split between his hands, not a soul on the flight deck. His boots hammered on the ramp for the boat, whipping by the whooping and hollering team mates, most of them making cheesy cat calls and wolf whistles at him.

"Damn it Hendricks, I told you going to your gals room was a bad idea, ya moron!" Rhodie was shouting over the din at him from the seat beside his, shaking his helmeted head in amusement.

"Ah shove it, least I got here before launch!" Hendricks snapped that back as he shoved his rifle into the clamp beside his seat. As soon as the weapon was secured, he spun about and plopped into the seat, strapping in and slamming his helmet onto his head and buckling the chinstrap.

"Good of you to join us Hendricks! Almost thought I was going to get the fun of court marshalling your ass after I finish scrapping the bugs off my boot!" Lieutenant Styles shouted that from his seat in the center of the dropship.

"My bad sir, wasn't gonna give you the pleasure though!"

"Hmph, says the only one who was quaking in his boots last night!" one of Hendriks other platoon mates shouted that out, one of the rare female MI's. "Shit, ya woulda thought he was a damn chihuahua for all the shakin he had!" the Hispanic woman's second shout got another roar of laughter from the soldiers on the dropship. The laughter nearly covered the whine of the dropship's ramps folding up, it's engines beginning to roar as they activated. As soon as they had closed, the lights flicked from the normal white to a dim circling red light, plunging the craft into darkness until Cameron's eyes had adjusted.

"Damn it Rees, at least I'm actually taking this shit seriously!" he hollered that back at her, glaring at her.

"All of you, stow it! Don't need you getting sidelined for biting your tongues off during the damn drop!" the lieutenant shouted again at seemingly just the right moment, as the dropship jolted under them.

He couldn't see it, but he knew the boat was being extended out of the ship by its deployment arm, the same as the other eleven or so heavy dropships the TFS Valley Forge was equipped with. Each craft was carrying a full company of soldiers, every single one of the other several dozen ships in the fleet deploying hundreds of the same dropships. From the mission briefs, it was to be the largest spaceborne assault on a planet ever launched, and the only one to not have a single ship lost to enemy fire during the drop. Or so they said. Cameron's gut felt otherwise, twisting into knots until a loud jolt ripped through the craft. Moments later, it felt like his gut had been yanked to the top of his ribcage, then slammed sideways as the dropship plummeted toward the planet, angling it's nose toward the ground as it fell.

The craft was shaking around hard enough that Cameron was being rattled back and forth in his seat from it, his head striking the rubberized impact pads almost non-stop. The heat in the craft rapidly rose to intense levels, sweat soaking through his grey fatigues in moments as the shaking began to slowly subside, smoothing out as the boxy craft beginning to bludgeon it's way through the atmosphere.

"Thirty seconds!" the call out from the lieutenant was barely audible in the roar of the craft, it being repeated by every person in the craft to ensure everyone heard it. Moments later, Cameron was shoved into the side of his seat once more, before his guts were forced back up into his ribcage from a sudden drop, the craft hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

"Everyone out, now!" the lieutenant screamed that out, the entire boat moving as one to release their harness's and grab their rifles. The ramp at the front of the bay was already whining open, letting in the unmuffled roar of the ships thrusters. It was normal to keep the engines lit so the craft could lift away as soon as it was cleared, primarily to make an immediate return to orbit and catch the fleet in time to prep the second wave.

Cameron followed his fellow soldiers out the door and down the ramp, loud bangs announcing flares being launched into the sky by the dropships, meant to distract the simple minded bugs. In moments, Cameron was dozens of yards away from the dropship, the noise of it's engines finally starting to fall away as the troops began spreading out as they ran across the rocky terrain.

"GET DOWN!" someone screamed that out, Cameron's head snapping around to find the source of the shout, only to immediately find the reason for it. A smoldering dropship was careening toward the ground, looking like half the craft had been melted away. It appeared as though it was going to slam into Cameron. In a panic, he dived to the deck, just before a tremendous bang assaulted his ears, accompanied by the slap of it's pressure wave and the screech of steel being rent apart. A resounding boom followed almost immediately, washing a second wave over him followed as rocks and debris began plunking into the ground around him.

Cameron cautiously propped himself up off the ground, immediately finding the smoldering pile of parts that used to be the dropship he had been on just moments ago. Jagged shards of metal had been blasted about the area like confetti, at least a dozen MI's writhing on the ground and screaming. Too many more were lying completely still, jagged fragments having literally torn their bodies apart.

_What the hell!? How did that dropship get blown in half like that!_ His heart was pounding so hard in his chest that he felt like it was going to blow his veins open, a headache already throbbing along with his pulse. Blue balls of fiery liquid were ripping skyward in alarming numbers all around him, seeing one engulf a distant dropship. It disappeared in an orange fireball.

_Damn it, why the hell did command think they had no anti-air capability, they were able to send an asteroid across the damn galaxy with enough precision to hit Earth!_ He silently cursed to himself, looking around to find those of his company unharmed all staring at the deadly light show or their injured friends in a stunned silence. Not one seemed capable of computing what they were seeing.

"If you can move, on your feet! Get a perimeter set up on the double! Rees! Get the medics on treating the injured!" Cameron leapt to his feet as he began shouting, not really sure why he was acting himself. His voice seemed to force the soldiers around him out of their stunned stupors as he began running to those who were still frozen in shock, grabbing them by the arm and tearing them to their feet.

"Belay that! If you can fight, follow me, we have some bugs to go hunt! One of those damned plasma bugs is only a few clicks from our position and command wants it dead!" Lieutenant Styles was shouting from somewhere behind Cameron.

Cameron slowed to a stop, taking one last look around the area. He was about to turn to head after the LT when his eyes stopped on one of the wounded. Rhodes was almost standing, a long jagged section of steel having ripped clean through his chest and embedded into the ground, pinning him to it. It took him several moments to tear his eyes from the sight, rushing toward the LT's position as soon as he did.

Meanwhile, another dropship screamed over head, blackened but still flying as it set down a few dozen meters from where the smoldering wreck was. It's troops began offloading as pumped as we had, but were immediately slowing as our company medics were rushing the wounded they could onto the dropship, right past the fresh troops.

Cameron shook them from his mind, trying to focus on the task at hand, jogging up to the group forming around the LT. In moments, what remained of the company, only a platoon and a half at best, were all loosely gathered around the LT, the head's up displays in our helmets already linking us rudimentary maps.

"Alright, we are going to keep this clean and simple, I want anyone with heavy weapons in fourth squad, first and second, take point, third in the rear, I'll be with the front squads! When we reach the target, bring up the nukes and nuke the bastard! Do you hear me!?"

"Sir yes sir!" the shouted voices of sixty MI's was tremendous, echoing over the surrounding rocks like a cannon shot. Cameron was a member of third squad, meaning he would have the rear guard.

"And Hendricks, get your ass up front!" he cursed as the lieutenant shouted that, trotting out ahead as the squads began to spread out, forming a loose wedge with him as the point as the group moved toward the objective. It was nearly four clicks away, but the tactical nukes the platoons heavy squad carried had a minimum safe distance of two and half clicks. Thankfully, less than a click away, was a ridgeline that should have a clear line of sight for several dozen kilometers.

Cameron's heart raced as he let his eyes swivel back and forth, inadvertently flicking his weapon's safety off. He knew it was only a matter of time before the arachnids were engaging them, and he wanted to be ready for it.

"BUUUGGGSS!" there was a shout off to Cameron's right, seeing at least three dark shapes rushing toward the middle of the right side of the wedge. Because of the boulders and rocky terrain, they were nearly on top of the line already, several rifles unleashing their fully automatic fury. As he watched, one of the bugs stumbled, it's front limb blown off. A few moments later, the weapons fire had torn it's body apart enough that it was still, leaking blood and guts into the dust. The other two creatures reached the line without issue. One used it's massive jaws to clamp down on one of his sqaudmates, seeing the man cleaved in half in an instant. The soldiers near that bug were focusing their fire on it, but it was barely slowing. It's compatriot hit the line at just about the same point, stabbing a trooper through with one of it's razor sharp fore legs, plunging clean through one soldier as it rammed it's forehead into another, sending the soldier flying.

He didn't get the chance to see more, hearing a sharp screech ahead of him, his eyes snapping forward to find an Arachnid just a dozen meters ahead of him, scrambling over a boulder.

_FUCK!_ He nearly shouted that as he whipped his rifle up, aiming roughly center mass on the creature and opening fire himself. His weapon bucked violently into his shoulder, knowing that firing in full auto was inaccurate at best, but his fear overrode his training, watching as the rounds tore into the creature, spattering green blood all over as each round blew small chunks clean from the creature. It screeched again before rushing forward, ignoring the weapons fire entirely. On instinct, he shifted his rifle, hesitating his fire as he adjusted his aim for both of it's left leg joints by it's body. This second burst tore the creature's legs off, one after the other, sending it crashing to the dirt, still alive. He didn't get time to worry about it though, another creature careening toward him from just left of it.

He snapped his weapon over to it, several of his comrades firing on it as well. With half a dozen Morita Mark Two's firing on a single bug, it was quickly shredded into small chunks. Rees was on his left, rushing forward screaming as she fired into the bug Cameron had wounded a moment ago, Cameron's eyes going wide.

"REES! ST-!" his voice froze as the bug lunged forward on it's uninjured legs, swiping it's jaws at her. They just barely got her left leg just below the knee, slicing clean through her like it was tissue paper.

"REEEES!" Cameron sprinted forward, firing as he ran for the eyes of the bug, so close now he could easily see them. He kept firing even after it fell still, grabbing one of the shoulder straps for Rees's armor to drag her away. She was screaming her head off, her weapon hanging limply by it's sling as she clutched at her bleeding stump.

Cameron's weapon quickly emptied, it's massive eighty round magazine already spent, but he barely payed any attention to that, simply letting the weapon fall to his side as he continued to drag her.

"Hendricks, look out!" Lieutenant Styles screamed that out, just a moment before Cameron was slammed to the ground. He barely managed to roll out from under whatever had slammed him to the ground, finding himself immediately underneath an arachnid.

_Fuck!_ He saw one of it's smaller limbs start arcing toward him as the creature twisted itself to let the short limb to stab him, throwing his arms up in a vain attempt to block it. Gunfire erupted all around him, chunks of material spattering all over him as he waited for the end. The arachnid screamed in pain, Cameron barely hearing a wet sloshing sound beside him as the creature stumbled back, Cameron finally opening his eyes to find it being positively shredded by weapons fire, collapsing just feet from the bug he had just killed. He was covered in green guts and blood, but he hardly noticed, just staring at the corpse in terror.

_I… that thing… I should be dead right now… _his body was shaking uncontrollably, unable to see anything but the still twitching corpse a dozen feet from him.

"L-T!" someone shouted from behind Cameron, Cameron managing to look beside him to see Lieutenant Styles still form, a hole the size of his thigh punched through the L-T's chest. Rees was on his other side, still alive and screaming.

"Hey, you good man!" another solider, a sergeant by the rank insignia on his sleeve, was screaming in Cameron's face.

Cameron couldn't form any words though, just staring blankly into the sergeant's face. No matter how hard he tried, his brain felt locked in a fog so deep nothing penetrated it.

"Come on! If you can fight, get on your feet!" the Sergeant shouted again, Cameron recoiling slightly from the shear volume. "Damn it, Medic! Get these two out of here! Everyone else, get on line, get those mortar tubes set up and start lobbing, one fifty front arc!"

Cameron managed to shakily get to his feet, dropping the empty magazine from his Morita and loading a fresh magazine, still trembling so much that the movement itself was difficult.

"Hey, you good soldier!" the sergeant was shouting again, grabbing Cameron's front plate and yanking his face just centimeters away from the sergeants.

"ye-yes sergeant, I'm not injured!" he barely managed to shout that back, tightening his grip on his weapon.

"Alright, strip the kit from your two comrades, distro the ammo to whoever has room for it, got it!? We will need every round!"

Cameron nodded, quickly unbuckling the load carriers from his deceased and injured comrades, taking several of the magazines to plus his own kit up before he ran forward to the soldiers already forming a perimeter, passing the ammo out as widely as he could. There were human corpses lying all across the battlefield, literally nothing but parts and pieces. It was quickly apparent that almost all of the first two squads had been annihilated by just seven bugs. None of the faces in the troops now forming the perimeter looked familiar, marking them as members of the other company that had landed here.

As soon as he was done distributing the ammo from the pilfered kits, he slipped into the perimeter himself, doing his best to wipe bug blood from his weapon's action. Meanwhile, loud booms were ripping out behind him, followed by booms slowly walking further away as mortar rounds were lobbed overhead, trying to use the explosives to create stand off distance.

"Get ready to move! Three hundred meters front, there is a small hill! We are taking that hill!" the sergeant was shouting again, Cameron gulping. "Now!"

Cameron tried to stay roughly in place with their formation as the group started running as one. The rough terrain and boulders quickly deforming the formation. An arachnid burst around a boulder just a dozen feet from Cameron. It was burnt and bleeding from several holes in it's exoskeleton, likely having been narrowly missed by a mortar. It squealed at the humans, already standing in a wide stance to prepare to lunge forward.

Cameron let out a terrified scream of his own, almost in defiance of the creature, snapping his weapon up and firing a burst of rounds at the creature. He hadn't really aimed the burst of rounds, but the way several holes were blown into its eyes and 'head', roughly center mass on the creature, showed it was a one in a million burst. The creature didn't even let out a shriek, simply going limp and collapsing where it was.

"Come on man, don't stop!" one of the other MI's shouted at him, Cameron not realizing he had stopped at all while he killed that bug. The shout jogged his brain free, rushing after the others. It didn't take long for the group to reach the hill, it only really being a dozen feet or so higher than the terrain around it. Even so, it was enough to allow a clear view for hundreds of meters around.

"Mortars and heavy weapons to the center, everyone else, fan out and circle up! If the bugs start getting close, start backpedaling, I do not want to see you getting prone!"

Cameron quickly followed the soldiers around him, nearly a dozen feet ending up between each soldier just manning the perimeter of the hill. Now that he was elevated, he could see the number of arachnids around him, several dozen visible from where he was. And by the shouts from around the hill, there were similar numbers all around.

"Mortars, danger close, all directions, now! As close as the smart rounds will let you!" The sergeant was shouting again, Cameron going wide eyed. Although the latest in military technology generally prevented friendly fire instances, using the same IFF system that allowed commanders to easily track and coordinate their troops, Smart Mortars were something MI's were strongly distrustful of. They were supposedly safe to detonate within sixty meters of an MI and would track any living thing in it's arc, doing everything it could to score a direct impact on it. The problem was, the safety range on the ordinance didn't account for shrapnel, just lethal blast radius. That meant, especially in airburst mode, the mortars were perfectly capable of harming friendlies within nearly a hundred and sixty meters.

"Everyone else, open up on them, do not let them get close! If they do, start shouting and back pedaling! Do not ceasefire for anything, even if they get a hold of you!"

Cameron didn't listen if there was more, shouldering his weapon and taking aim for the closest bug, only about sixty meters away and rapidly closing. As soon as the rifle's crosshair was centered on the bug, he pulsed the trigger, letting out a short but controlled burst of rounds. They ripped chunks out of the bug's massive upper jaw, but it did no more.

_Taking their limbs off seemed to work pretty well earlier. Should at least slow them down._ With that, he adjusted his aim for the leg joints, pulsing the trigger several times. After the third burst, the creature's legs were severed, dropping into the dirt just fifteen meters from him, another bug hot behind it.

With the much shorter range, and it's jaws wide open in a shrill scream, Cameron was able to easily line up a shot into the upper area of it's mouth, the rounds piercing into the creatures nerve center and detonating. One pulsed burst dropped the bug, a third clambering over the squirming crippled bug that had been first.

"Fucking son of a bitch!" he screamed that aloud as he swung his weapon back, the bug too close to even bother looking at the crosshair on his heads up display, just ramming the trigger in and spraying rounds at the bug. Chunks were being torn from the bug as his rounds tore into it, his inaccurate spray severing one of it's front legs, one of it's smaller mandibles flying off. It's lower jaw was positively shredded, hanging limply off to the side as it had almost been severed by the rounds. It let loose a pained shriek, recoiling slightly. Cameron took that as his chance and stopped his spraying to actually aim a burst for it's nerve center, that controlled burst turning it into a giant carcass.

A boom startled Cameron, having been paying too much attention to the rushing bugs to have heard the mortars behind him fire. The boom was synced with a massive flash ahead of him, the ground being raked with shrapnel. One bug had been directly beneath the airburst mortar, blasted into goupy shards of exoskeleton. Four more were peppered with shrapnel, one collapsing where it was. Two caught in the shrapnel were shredded and left writhing on the ground, the last one still scrambling forward, despite the dozens of metal fragments inside of it. The shrapnel was visibly plunking into the dust around Cameron, one of the fragments slamming into the forehead of his helmet and deflecting down, raking the interior side of his right eyebrow, narrowly missing his eye as it went by his ocular cavity to rip his cheek open and leave a small gash on his shoulder.

He screamed in pain, his right hand going straight to his face as he stumbled back, both eyes clamped shut. His entire face and arm felt like they were on fire, able to feel the blood running freely from the wounds. Before he knew it, he was on his knees, just trying to get his thoughts through the pain he was feeling. Another soldier screaming managed to pierce his senses, wrenching his left eye open to look that way. The soldier on that immediate side of him had his leg punctured by the upper 'tooth' like structure on an arachnid's upper jaw, the arachnid dragging him back away from the hill. The MI was fruitlessly firing into the creature's jaw, tearing chunks off as he tried to get it to let go of him.

_Damn it, I gotta do something!_ As Cameron watched, a smart mortar thudded into the dirt only a few yards away from the MI being dragged, showing that his IFF had triggered the smart round's safeties. He didn't take the time to think about what that meant, switching his weapon into semi-automatic before trying to take aim. With the damage to the front of his helmet, his HUD system was down, and the injury to his face was preventing him from opening his dominant eye. He cursed as he awkwardly aimed over the iron sights with his uninjured eye, squeezing the trigger as soon as he had it aligned on the injured bug's eye. The first round blew it's eye out, the creature suddenly and violently rearing back from the likely painful injury. The movement jerked it's tooth from the MI, who let out an incredible scream, but had immediately rolled over and started trying to crawl his way back to the hill.

Cameron quickly reset his aim, firing another round into the bugs empty eye socket, or trying too. The first shot had frankly been a miracle, as his vision was blurry at best. Not only was it hard to see clearly with one eye, but the pain in his face was forcing him to tear up, blurring his vision even more. His subsequent rounds just tore chunks out of the arachnid before another lucky round found the ocular cavity, the creature letting out one more squeal before it collapsed.

"Keep crawling, I'm com-" Cameron was starting to shout and run for the injured soldier, flicking his weapon into full auto when someone grabbed him, stopping him in his tracks.

"Leave him!" Cameron cranked his head about to see the same steely faced sergeant from earlier, the man balancing the stock of his shorter Morita carbine on his hip.

"I can save him!"

"You idiot, the bugs are using his IFF to keep the mortars off them!" the sergeant shouted that as he used Cameron's kit to shove him behind the Sergeant. The Sergeant then leveled the carbine on the crawling soldier, firing a short burst. The crawling soldier's face was turned into chunks as the rounds meant to kill armored bugs exploded on him. A moment later, the mortar that had plunked into the dirt a few feet from him detonated, vaporizing the soldier's body.

"Now shake this shit off! You are doing great kid, keep it up!" he shouted that as he shifted his aim to the peppered bug from the mortar that had just injured Cameron, the bug feet from them. His one prolonged burst slowed and killed the bug, it sliding to a stop just inches from him. He fired another burst point blank into it's nerve stem, just to be sure it was actually dead.

Cameron did his best to shake off what he just saw, getting back to his feet and aiming at the next bug, a seemingly uninjured creature that had made it past the mortar fire. He fired a short burst at it, the awkward left eyed aiming and the pain ripping through his shoulder as the weapon bucked against the injury sending his rounds wild. Several blew small chunks from the arachnid, none doing any serious damage. He took aim again, squeezing the trigger for only two rounds to fire, feeling the bolt lock back.

_Fuck!_ He scrambled to thumb the release for the bullpup's magazine, fishing a fresh one from his kit as the spent mag clattered into the dirt. The bug was almost upon him as he slammed the fresh magazine in the weapon and released the bolt, spraying at the creature the moment the weapon was ready too. The explosive rounds were ripping chunks out of the arachnid but not even slowing it.

**"BUG, BUG, BUG!" **he screamed that out at the absolute top of his voice as he began to back pedal. Several other morita's joined his, the bug quickly falling into chunks as the shear volume of rounds tearing into it shredded it.

"Everyone, start falling back up the hill, close up the gaps!"

Cameron barely heard that shout, aiming for a bug running up on one of his comrades. His burst was surprisingly accurate, turning the bug's eye cavity into a bowl of goupy green bits and killing the creature. As soon as it was in the dirt, he started carefully moving back, scanning for another bug to hit in his area. The arachnids certainly weren't ones to disappoint, as another two were bearing down on him already. He cursed, trying to scramble backward as he pulsed bursts at the closer of the two, tearing three of it's legs off before shifting his fire to the second bug. His weapon emptied again, the bug far too close for Cameron to even think of reloading. Instead, he flicked the selector lever as far forward as it would go, setting the weapon into underslung mode and squeezing the trigger. His ears were assaulted by a loud _plunk _as the undermounted grenade launcher fired. The special shaped charges he was issued were supposed to be safe to fire under ten yards. That said, his senses were not ready for the loud concussive shock that boomed out as the grenade detonated, having nailed the arachnid center mass. It's thorax and legs were blasted into chunks behind it, the upper jaw flipping past Cameron and nearly slamming into him. He quickly pumped the grenade launcher, loading another grenade into the tube from the integrated magazine tube.

Two more were running up the hill toward him, Cameron running on instinct as he aimed roughly toward them and fired. The grenade visibly arced out before impacting under one of the bugs. It blew it's rear legs off, peppering the second with shrapnel. The second rushed past it's crippled comrade. He fired again, watching the second round arc out and directly hit the second arachnid, he let out a holler before sprinting up the hill. As he ran, he reloaded his rifle, not even bothering with the grenade launcher portion.

As soon as he had the weapon loaded again, he spun on the spot, still backing up until he was literally shoulder to shoulder with the men beside least a dozen arachnids just a few meters behind him. He opened fire as soon as his weapon was leveled on the closest bug, watching as the group of bugs seem to fall apart as the MI rifles literally tore them apart. After a few moments, he ceased fire, only seeing a few small twitches amongst the bug corpses ahead of him, several dozen coating the hill side. For every bug though, there was at least one dead human corpse, likely more, but his brain was too pain washed to think to count.

"Cease fire! Cease fire! Conserve your ammo! I want a scavenger team on the double, strip the kits from the dead! We've bought ourselves some breathing room boys!" the sergeants shout rang over the area, Cameron letting out a shuddering sigh before he let him self fall back onto his rump, then slump into the dirt of the slope. His entire body was quaking, his face and shoulder still burning like lava was being poured on him.

_I'm still alive somehow!_


End file.
